I realize at the ages of 8 and 6 years old the time our girls believe may be limited before someone or something alerts them to the realization of what may be real during the Christmas season.  Our intent when this does occur is to keep the belief alive with the magic of the season.

We watched the movie Elf recently and my eldest had to read all the credits to see who was Santa, thankfully they listed Santa 🙂  For now, our girls still believe in Santa Claus and our Elf on the shelf, Earl. Their excitement for this season bubbles over and out.

As has become a tradition in our home, the day after Thanksgiving our tree is set up in the family room.  My husband assembles it, I fluff the branches and check the pre-lit lights and our girls decorate.  This is their tree with the many ornaments they have made over the years, those gifted to them and those they have collected at holiday events.

Today the outside of our home was decorated.  My husband taking advantage of what was to be a rainy day and was not, got out and set our house a blaze with lights, lights and more lights.  So you see the Christmas spirit is shared by all of us in the family.

We will begin baking soon, the girls have started writing their Dear Santa letters, and of course Earl arrived on Thanksgiving to have a watchful eye on our girls till Christmas.  The girls believe that Earl has magical powers is that transport him back and forth to Santa every night to give an update to the man in red whether they should be on the good or the naughty list.  Each morning they wake up to see where he has sat himself down for that day’s watch.

And on the magical night of Christmas Eve we will gather around the computer to follow The Official Norad Santa Tracker with squeals of delight as we see his travels well before he arrives in California.

I am happy that we believe all of us and that keeps the magic of the season for me!

Day 29 of National Blog Posting Month, click #NaBloPoMo to enjoy the many other bloggers participating.